One Body, Two Minds: Alternating VR Perspective During Remote Teleoperation of Supernumerary Limbs

Paper Title

One Body, Two Minds: Alternating VR Perspective During Remote Teleoperation of Supernumerary Limbs

Publication Info

• Topic area: Collaborative VR teleoperation with dynamic perspective switching for shared-body control.
• Keywords: Virtual reality, teleoperation, supernumerary limbs, perspective switching, embodiment, collaborative robotics, workload, physiological measures, user experience, shared control.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Fixed first-person viewpoints in shared-body VR systems cause coordination breakdowns, discomfort, and reduced task performance, especially during locomotion and manipulation tasks.
• Significance: Addressing these issues is critical for improving collaboration, embodiment, and efficiency in VR teleoperation systems, particularly as they are applied in high-stakes or precision-demanding scenarios.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research highlights the benefits of dynamic perspective control and the challenges of embodiment in shared systems. However, the interplay between perspective switching, task performance, and user experience in co-embodied VR scenarios remains underexplored.

Solution

• Proposed approach: Guest-driven perspective switching between three modes: Shared Embodied View (baseline), Embedded Anchored View (stabilized body-anchored view), and Out-of-body View (decoupled third-person view).
• Novelty:
  1. Introduction of two new perspectives (Embedded Anchored View and Out-of-body View) for dynamic viewpoint control.
  2. Empirical evaluation of perspective-switching strategies in collaborative VR teleoperation with virtual supernumerary limbs (VSLs).
  3. Role-specific and task-dependent design guidelines for optimizing performance, embodiment, and comfort.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  1. Conducted a formative study (N=10) to identify challenges in fixed first-person shared-body VR.
  2. Designed two alternative perspectives addressing coordination and discomfort issues.
  3. Implemented a guest-driven switching mechanism allowing dynamic transitions between perspectives.
  4. Evaluated the system in a within-subjects study (N=48) using collaborative tasks (Transportation and Factory) and measured performance, workload, embodiment, and physiological responses.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Out-of-body View reduced errors in precision tasks (Factory task: fewer errors, p<.05) and improved navigation efficiency (Transportation task: 31% faster, p<.001).
  • Embedded Anchored View enhanced embodiment but increased cognitive and physiological burden.
  • Guests reported higher fatigue and workload in Out-of-body View, while hosts experienced more fatigue in Embedded Anchored View during navigation.
  • Physiological measures (HRV, RMSSD) indicated lower stress in Out-of-body View for guests.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Out-of-body View improved spatial awareness and reduced errors compared to Shared Embodied View.
  • Embedded Anchored View provided stability for precision tasks but required careful management to avoid increased workload.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Tasks: Transportation (navigation-focused) and Factory (precision-focused).
  • Participants: 24 dyads (N=48), balanced for VR experience.
  • Measures: Task performance (time, errors), embodiment (AEQ), workload (NASA-TLX), fatigue (VAS-F), and physiological responses (HRV, heart rate).
• Limitations and future work:
  • Controlled lab setting limits generalizability to real-world scenarios.
  • Lack of standardized cybersickness measures (e.g., SSQ).
  • Short interaction durations in the formative study may not capture long-term adaptation.
  • Future work should validate findings with physical robotic systems and diverse participant populations.

Summary

This study introduces and evaluates guest-driven perspective switching in shared-body VR teleoperation with virtual supernumerary limbs. The Out-of-body View improved navigation and reduced errors, while the Embedded Anchored View supported precision tasks but increased workload. Physiological and subjective measures revealed role-specific trade-offs in embodiment and comfort. The findings provide practical design guidelines for adaptive perspective control, emphasizing task- and role-specific strategies to optimize performance and user experience in collaborative VR systems.